


Who Needs A Beta?

by ElliotOrion



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Beta Lance, Hurt/Comfort, Lance Needs a Hug, M/M, Multi, Omega Keith, Omega Verse, alpha shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 14:53:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9239954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElliotOrion/pseuds/ElliotOrion
Summary: Keith was the perfect Omega. Shiro was the perfect Alpha. Why would they need a useless Beta?





	

**Author's Note:**

> A present for the lovely @Demiboy_Bread_Loaf!

Keith was the perfect omega. He was sweet and small and fiercely protective of his pack and his mates. He was fiery and passionate and wasn’t like any of those shy and timid girls they’d left back on Earth. He was soft in all the right places and the most beautiful omega anyone could ever wish for as a mate. He could give Shiro the most perfect children, have his heats and please his alpha in the way only an omega could.  
  
And Shiro was the perfect alpha. He was so strong, yet still so gentle when he took care of his mates. He’d go to the ends of the earth to protect them all and would, and had, stood in front of enemies a million times stronger than him just to keep a loved one safe. Shiro always knew just how far to push his mates to make them feel good, and nothing he could ever do would make Lance feel uncomfortable. He could go into ruts and would give Keith the most precious children when they were ready.  
  
Keith was the perfect omega. Shiro was the perfect alpha.  
  
And Lance was the beta who was encroaching in on their perfect relationship.  
  
Because really, why would they need him? He wasn’t soft or sensual like Keith. He wasn’t big and broad like Shiro. He was just a scrawny beta who couldn’t keep up with either of them when it mattered most. He couldn’t knot and make Keith scream and whimper like Shiro could, and he couldn’t get nice and wet for Shiro like Keith could. He couldn’t bear Shiro’s children, or give Keith some pups of his own. He was just a third wheel who was only good for petting Keith’s hair when he got overwhelmed in bed.  
  
What was the point of having a beta in this relationship? What could he possibly bring? What could he possibly do that made Shiro and Keith so happy that they’d want to keep him around? Shiro wouldn’t even let him clean up Keith after sex. That was Keith’s alpha’s job, not the beta tag-a-long. He was useless.  
  
And Lance couldn’t figure out how to be useful! Because god, how he wanted to be. He wanted to make Shiro happy, please his alpha, even if he couldn’t help Shiro after a nightmare with his sweet scent. He wanted to have Keith look at him with the fire he looked at Shiro with, bring that passion up to darken his cheeks and make him shift and whimper and whine. But he couldn’t, because he was just a stupid beta, and betas were useless.  
  
Even when he tried to be useful, he failed! Every time Lance tried to be good like an omega for Shiro, Keith was already doing it! Every time he tried to bring Shiro tea or give him a massage or wear his shirts like he knew Shiro loved, Keith was already doing it, knowing exactly what his alpha needed every damn time! Every time he tried to take Shiro’s knot, he’d wind up crying in pain and all he’d accomplish is making his mates feel guilty and being unable to walk for a few days.  
  
And whenever he’d try and be like a good alpha for Keith, he’d fail at that too! Anytime he tried to sate Keith on his heat because Shiro was out on a mission, Keith would just wail and get worse and he could never even get the desperate omega off on his heats without their alpha. He was too small for Keith to curl up in his lap properly, and too bony for it to be comfortable anyways.  
  
He was useless, and he really should just let Shiro and Keith go off and be happy without him.  
  
But Lance couldn’t even do that. He was too selfish, too desperate to hold on to these perfect people even at their own detriment. He loved them, and no matter how many times he told himself that if he really loved them, he’d let them be happy, he just… He couldn’t. He couldn’t let them go.  
  
God, he was a failure.  
  
“Lance? It’s movie night, where are you? Keith picked out a good one this time, we think you’ll like it. Coran finally got us more accurate subtitles, so we won’t have those ridiculous mistranslations anymore. We can actually understand the movie now! Ah, there you are,” Shiro said, walking around the console to where Lance sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, eyes firmly fixed on the stars outside the window. He refused to look up at the smile he could hear in Shiro’s voice.  
  
It was time. He had to tell Shiro to let him go, that Lance wasn’t good enough for him, that Shiro didn’t need a useless beta for a mate when he had a perfect omega to please him. He could keep deceiving him. He couldn’t keep tricking Shiro into thinking he needed a beta.  
  
“Lance? What’s wrong?” Shiro asked, concern filling his voice as he knelt beside Lance. Lance blushed, burying his head in his pathetically skinny arms. He was worrying Shiro. Of course, he was. That’s all he seemed to be able to do, just worry and bother and burden his mates.  
  
“Nothing,” Lance muttered, tensing up tighter as Shiro put an arm around Lance’s shoulders, pulling him into a warm chest.  
  
“Don’t say nothing. Something’s clearly wrong. I think something’s been wrong for a while. What’s going on, baby?” Shiro’s metal hand came up to weave through Lance’s hair, gently massaging into his scalp like he did for Keith when the omega was in distress. Lance was ashamed to admit just how relaxed it was making him. He needed to pull away. Now.  
  
He didn’t.  
  
“Shiro? Lance? Oh! There you guys are... Lance? Lance, are you okay?” Keith’s voice called out through the room, raising in pitch slightly as he saw his two mates curled on the floor.  
  
“I’m fine,” Lance snapped, tightening his arms. He knew his mates didn’t believe him, their scents mixing together in a song of worry above his head. Keith dropped to his knees, placing his hands on Lance’s arms and pulling them apart to look at the beta, completely ignoring Lance’s weak attempts to keep his arms shut.  
  
“You are not fine. I could smell your distress out in the hall. What’s wrong?” Keith said in the same snippy tone Lance had used.  
  
“I’m fine!” Lance growled, jerking away from both of them. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want their worry. He didn’t deserve their worry. He needed to leave them before he let himself get pulled back into their comfort. He couldn’t keep doing this. He couldn’t keep bothering them all the time!  
  
“Lance,” Shiro warned, grabbing onto his wrist as Lance tried to rise to his feet. “Stay here. Tell us what’s wrong.”  
  
“You’ve been distant and upset all week. We’ve been so busy with missions that we haven’t had time to talk, but now we do, and now you are going to tell us what the hell is going on!” Keith growled, crossing his arms and glaring at Lance.  
  
Lance flinched. He deserved Keith’s anger. He had been distant. He’d been trying to make it easier for them all when he let his mates be happy together. He was just trying to protect his mates. He loved them, loved them so much. He was just trying to make them happy.  
  
Which was why he had to do this.  
  
“I think we should break up,” Lance said finally, his voice flat and dead. He made sure to keep his face turned away, away from their surprised, hurt and scared expressions. He’d deluded them so much that they thought they needed him. Of course, he was going to hurt them. But they’d be fine, better, happier, once they realized what he’d done to ruin their relationship.  
  
“W-what? Why?” Keith whimpered, so much hurt in his voice that Lance almost started to cry.  
  
“Lance, why would you say that? Are you unhappy with us?” Shiro asked, and Lance knew him well enough to hear the pain behind his stern voice. He was hurting them so bad. God, he was a horrible mate.  
  
“You guys will be happier without me,” Lance spat the statement out like the fact it was. Undeniable, certain, irrefutable. Agonizing.  
  
“What?!” Keith shrieked, voice turning almost shrill. “What the fuck? Why the hell would you think that? Lance? Lance, what the fuck!?” Keith grabbed his shoulders, bringing Lance around to face him. Lance still wouldn’t meet his eyes. He couldn’t.  
  
“Lance, why would you think that?” Shiro demanded, his grip on Lance’s arm tightening slightly. But not enough to hurt. Never enough to hurt.  
  
“Because I’m just a beta. You don’t need me. You guys are a perfect couple, a perfect alpha and a perfect omega and I’m just the stupid beta who’s coming in and messing it all up. I can’t have any kids or give you any, Keith! I can make either of you happy in bed, and I’m pretty useless outside of the bedroom too! I just fight with Keith and bother Shiro and I’m useless and you guys are better without me and the only reason you think you aren’t is because I’ve tricked you and I’m sorry I’m so sorry, I didn’t- I don’t want to leave but I love you both so much and that-that’s why I need to l-let you guys be-be happy without me,” Lance sobbed, the words spilling out so quick he couldn’t stop them until he was shaking too bad to say another word.  
  
Shiro and Keith were quiet for a few minutes, and Lance prayed that they were listening to him, listening and processing and understanding that they needed to let him go and it’d be better and they could be happy without him and it would be okay, they’d be better, it’d be okay.  
  
“Lance, you fucking idiot,” Keith sobbed, throwing his arms around the beta’s neck. “You are such a damn idiot. We aren’t a perfect couple, we are only perfect with you because we need you with us. We wouldn’t be happier without you, we’d be miserable and it’d be wrong and we need you so bad, Lance.”  
  
“No, you don’t, I’m just tricking you,” Lance shook his head, trying to pull away from Keith. But Shiro was there, pulling his two mates into his broad lap and holding Lance tight under his chin and in his arms.  
  
“You aren’t tricking us at all Lance. We need you. We’ve always needed you. Before, before Voltron and before Kerberos, before it all, we were together. You know this. We weren’t right though. We weren’t complete. We were missing something and we couldn’t figure it out until that night you rescued me. The second I smelled you, smelled your beautiful, calming scent, that very second I knew exactly what we’d been missing. You haven’t tricked us at all, baby,” Shiro whispered, his metal hand back to scratching at Lance’s scalp.  
  
“No, no, you’re wrong, you were happy before, I saw you, I saw you at the Garrison, you were so happy and I was so jealous and I wanted it but I knew I’d just mess it all up for you,” Lance sobbed, shaking his head and trying to cover his face with his shaking hands. But Keith grabbed them, and kissed Lance’s knuckles and nuzzled against his palm like he would for Shiro.  
  
“Oh Lance… Lance, you are so wrong. We were happy with each other, yes, of course we were, but we needed someone to balance us. Shiro would be overprotective and was always so worried about me,” Keith smiled, pressing his forehead to Lance’s.  
  
“And Keith was super needy and desperate,” Shiro added. “We needed someone else. I needed someone else to take care of, and Keith needed someone else to take care of him. Half of our sex was crazy and wild and we were always so desperate.”  
  
“We couldn’t get enough. We needed someone else there to help. We needed someone else to keep us calm, keep us… happy. We needed a beta,” Keith stressed.  
  
“You don’t need a beta,” Lance scoffed, giving a pleading look to Keith to just understand, why wouldn’t they understand that they didn’t need Lance?  
  
“Of course we did. But more than that, we needed you. We needed your scent to calm us down because no other beta could do it for us. We needed you to cuddle and to take care of and kiss,” Shiro whispered, kissing the back of Lance’s neck and nuzzling against his scent glands with his nose. “You smell like the ocean, you know? Like water and lying in the sun on top of soft sand.”  
  
“But-“ Lance gasped, shivering at Shiro’s petting that was trailing down his side.  
  
“No but’s,” Keith snapped, cradling Lance’s face in his hands. “No but’s. You are perfect for us. Absolutely perfect. I need you to cuddle me. I need your scent to ease me through my heats. I need your hands in my hair and your chest against my back when I ride Shiro and your kisses, because damn, Shiro knows how to control a kiss, but sometimes I don’t like being controlled, sometimes I like to kiss you and take what I need. And you always give me what I need.”  
  
“You know how much I need to feel in control. Blame it on the Galra if you want, but it’s always been like that. And Keith doesn’t like to lose control all the time. I need you to help me keep him in line and I need you to take care of and to help me calm Keith down when he gets in a mood and my alpha scent just makes him more riled up. I need your scent to help calm me down from nightmares because Keith’s just isn’t enough. I need you. We need you,” Shiro muttered, kissing up Lance’s neck and up to his ear, making Lance gasp and reach for Keith’s shoulders for an anchor as Shiro’s petting dropped even lower.  
  
“I can’t give you babies though. I can’t have babies!” Lance whimpered as Keith claimed his mouth.  
  
“You think we give a fuck about babies?” Keith snorted, pulling back to nip at Lance’s chin. “Even if we wanted them, it’s completely out of the question until Zarkon is defeated, and who knows how long that’s going to take. Who cares if you can’t help with kids? You’ll still be the perfect father to them. Hell, you’ll probably be better than either of us with all your experience with kids from your siblings!” Lance laughed, tears starting again.  
  
“We need you, Lance. And we are keeping you. Forever,” Shiro growled, pulling Lance flush against his body.  
  
“For as long as you want us,” Keith amended, smirking at their alpha who was getting more and more into lavishing Lance’s body with his love. “Do you want us, Lance?”  
  
“Y-yes! Yes, god, yes, I want you, I love you, I love you so much,” Lance cried.  
  
“Good. Now, I think it’s time we showed you just how much we need you, hmm?” Shiro murmured, standing with Lance still cradled in his arms.  
  
“Mmhm,” Lance gasped as Shiro’s tongue lapped at his lips.  
  
Maybe it was okay if he stayed. Maybe they did need him. Maybe they did need a beta.  
  
Who needed kids anyways?


End file.
